Weidenfeld Scholar of the Year Award for Sagoon Bhetwal

Trinity postgraduate Sagoon Bhetwal from has been awarded the Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust (WHT) Scholar of the Year. 

The award is given out to recognise ‘someone who actively participated, volunteered to lead WHT activities and was an all-around ambassador for the Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust’. The award ceremony was held during the annual end-of-the-year retreat for scholars organized to mark the end of the WHT scholarship and leadership programme. Sagoon is an MSc student pursuing a degree in Comparative Social Policy from the Department of Social Policy and Intervention.

Sagoon’s team also won the Business Challenge component of the programme. Their business idea ‘EnviroKindle’ was selected as the winner out of the seven teams by a panel of entrepreneurs. EnviroKindle provides a solution to transition from charcoal-based cooking fuel to an innovative energy briquette made by combining the by-products of wastewater treatment (sludge) and sugar production (bagasse). The product aims to replace charcoal as the predominant cooking fuel mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sagoon says of the award: ‘It is important to me that I put effort for the people around me and the communities that I am a part of. And to be acknowledged by my WHT community for the effort that I have put is an absolute honour. I also take it as a sign of trust upon my capability to care for my people and my purpose continuously. I want to thank both WHT and Trinity for making my Oxford experience so special and am grateful to have found meaningful connections within my cohort which I will continue to cherish for a lifetime.’